Keralam Plans 300 Science Centres and Campus Complaint App

The Keralam government plans to establish 300 centres to promote scientific temper among 15 lakh young people. Chief Minister V D Satheesan is scheduled to launch the initiatives at Government Women’s College on Wednesday, 4 November 2026. The programme will include the inauguration of the first sub-centre of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Scientific Temper.

Science education and student welfare initiatives

Spearheaded by the Keralam State Higher Education Council, the science initiative aims to encourage scientific temper, humanism and inquiry-based thinking among students and the wider public. It includes online courses, handbooks and video reels. An online course developed with C-DIT (Centre for Development of Imaging Technology) will also be launched. Higher Education Minister Roji M John will preside over the event, which Transport Minister C P John will attend.

The Siddharth Student Welfare App will let students confidentially report ragging and other campus problems, seek assistance without revealing their identity, submit anonymous audio complaints and alert authorities to safety issues. It is named after J S Sidharthan, a 20-year-old veterinary student who allegedly died by suicide in February 2024 after being subjected to ragging at the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Pookode.

A draft Siddharth Anti-Ragging Act is under government consideration. It would provide a legal framework for the initiative and facilitate a state anti-ragging commission. The government will also release a Student Aspiration Survey on expectations in higher education.

Important Facts for Exams

• Constitutional duty: Article 51A(h) makes developing scientific temper, humanism, and a spirit of inquiry and reform a Fundamental Duty of Indian citizens.
• Evidence-based method: Scientific temper involves questioning, observing physical reality, testing, hypothesising, analysing, and communicating, without prescribing a fixed sequence.
• National coordination: The National Council for Science and Technology Communication is mandated to communicate science to the public, foster scientific temper, and coordinate related efforts nationwide.